SGA aims to better serve, represent students
COMMENTARY
By Brad Thompson

Last semester, someone said the candidates that were running for offices in the Student Government Association were simply politicians. This comment bothered me for a long time, as I thought about all of the negativity that comes with that title. When I think of politicians, I think of people who aren’t honest, who aren’t looking out for the interests of their constituents.

All of my thoughts of negativity were drastically changed when SGA, Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic and National Pan-Hellenic Council made history. We had a joint training retreat with a single goal in mind:To increase collaboration among our groups. I saw my so called “politicians” in SGA light a fire in the heart of our new executive boards, and open up new lines of communication between SGA and Greek organizations. I realized if we are going to be labeled politicians, there is a type of politician we want to be. We want to be servants of integrity, committed to our causeand stewards of the student body.

As a collective SGA, we are ready to see change happen at TCU. We are ready to see our campus community be stronger and more unified than ever. It’s time for us to step up and accept the expectations and roles you have set for us. The expectations you have of us are higher than ever, and our goal is not to simply meet them, but to exceed them.

As the president of SGA, my goals are simple. I want to be the best we can be and do as much as we can to make a difference here at TCU. In addition, our agenda is your agenda. We are striving to be a student government that listens more before it acts and knows that we have the support of the student body behind us.

At our recent retreat, we were able to set a mission and a vision for SGA this year by adopting a mission statement by which everything we do will be based: To represent the collective voice of the student body while encompassing the spirit of the TCU community through service, programming and legislation.

This is our mission as a student government, with the most important words to me being service and representation. Members of SGA are servants to you. Our No. 1 job is to do what we can to meet your needs. It’s also time that your SGA represented you more effectively. My goal is for SGA to be a resource for all students at TCU and to provide a clear and representative exchange of ideas on how to make TCU an even better place.

I ask only two things of you. Keep us accountable in all that we do. Also, let us know what we can do for you by communicating with us. We want to know what is important to YOU, so please give us your feedback. Together, let’s make TCU and SGA something we can all be proud of.

Guest columnist Brad Thompson is the president of the Student Government Association.
He can be reached at (j.b.thompson@tcu.edu).